CHEd chief wants P2-B cut in budget restored

Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Chair Patricia Licuanan yesterday expressed disappointment after the House of Representatives shaved P2 billion off her agency’s proposed P13.37 billion budget for  2017.

A total of P1 billion each was removed from the commission’s Philippine-California Advanced Research Institutes (PCARI) and its K-12 transition programs.

In a statement, Licuanan called for the P2-billion to be restored, saying reducing the CHEd’s budget contradicts President Duterte’s 10-point agenda which “puts primacy on investments in human capital development.”

She pointed out the PCARI project was a continuing program since 2013 and its P1.763 budget was intended to support 131 post-doctoral scholars in Science and Engineering as well as fund 35 new research and development proposals. It involves 15 higher education institutions with collaborators at the University of California.

The K-12 transition program is intended to mitigate the effects of the program on the higher education sector from 2016 to 2021. —JEANNETTE G. ANDRADE